Living laboratories: An urban ethnobotanical survey of medicinal gardens in Baguio City, Philippines

Abstract

Background: Medicinal gardens are important in addressing common health problems in the local community. In this project, the researchers identified medicinal plants available in the various barangays of Baguio City, Philippines, with an emphasis on plants used to treat the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Information on the plant habit, conservation status, part/s used, methods of preparation, mode of application, frequency and duration of use, and dosage of the plants was gathered.

Methods: Survey interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire. Reliable online databases such as Scopus, Elsevier, PubMed, among others, served as sources of information to verify medicinal uses of the plants grown in the different barangays. Data was analyzed using use value (UV), relative frequency of citation (RFC), fidelity level (FL), and informant consensus factor (ICF) as quantitative tools. Multiple correspondence and correlational analyses were done to validate results.

Results: A total of 42 medicinal plant species were recorded as being utilized against the identified 18 health problems. The majority of the plants are herbs (40.48%) and shrubs (38.1%), which are widely cultivated. The most frequently used plant part for preparation was leaves. Boiling and drinking are the most common modes of preparation and administration, respectively. The most important medicinal plant species was lemongrass or Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf (UV 1.348). This is widely used for urinary tract infection, hypertension, sepsis, heart and kidney diseases. The majority of the plants recorded were used to treat hypertension. Upper respiratory tract infection has the highest calculated ICF (0.884) with oregano, or Coleus amboinicus Lour. (UV 0.620) used for remedy. The associations observed in the categorical variables such as plant species, disease categories, method of preparation, and parts utilized indicate shared local and traditional knowledge among respondents, supported by ethnobotanical indices, MCA values, and strong positive correlation results.

Conclusion: Urban medicinal gardens, as a community-based initiative, support primary healthcare, serve as repositories of traditional knowledge, and provide valuable sources of medicinal plant diversity in the city. Medicinal plants are locally cultivated and used as health remedies in the different barangays, with some scientific basis from published studies.

Keywords: health remedies, medicinal plants, Cymbopogon citratus, hypertension, medicinal garden, food medicine